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Flutterwave, Nigerian and U.S.-based fintech company, announced on Wednesday that it has secured $170 million from investors to improve its technology and support its expansion drive. The investment has pushed the company's valuation to more than $1 billion.

According to a Flutterwave statement, the funding is part of a Series C round, which comes one year after the company closed its $35 million Series B, and $20 million Series A round in 2018. In total, Flutterwave has raised $225 million.

New York-based private investment firm, Avenir Growth Capital, and U.S. hedge fund and investment firm, Tiger Global, led the Series C round. Other participants in the round include DST Global, Early Capital Berrywood, Green Visor Capital, Greycroft Capital, Insight Ventures, PayPal, Salesforce Ventures and Worldpay FIS 9yards Capital.

Flutterwave said the fundraising comes at a time when Covid-19 has accelerated a shift to digital payments in Africa. The pandemic has contributed to the company’s 226 per cent compound annual growth rate (CAGR) in revenue from 2018-2020.

Olugbenga Agboola, Founder and CEO of Flutterwave, attributed the company’s achievements to its team of over 300 employees, investors, customers and regulatory bodies like the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). He said the support of regulatory bodies are at forefront of efforts by African governments to create an enabling environment for technology, innovation and financial inclusion.

“This humbling support has created the backbone upon which companies like Flutterwave have been able to thrive,” Agboola added.

In an interview with Reuters late on Tuesday, Agboola said Flutterwave could consider a listing in New York. “We may consider the possibility of listing in New York or a possible dual listing in New York and Nigeria,” the Flutterwave CEO and co-founder said.
 
Flutterwave’s billion-dollar valuation is a significant achievement for the Nigerian startup scene. The company now joins Interswitch to become the second Nigerian fintech to have reached unicorn status. Interswitch achieved a unicorn status in 2019 following a $200 million equity investment by Visa, the U.S. payments technology giant. Flutterwave’s current valuation also comes after Visa acquired a 20 per cent stake in the company in 2019.

“Flutterwave is at the forefront of innovation in payments technology, and we are excited to support the team as they build the last available payments infrastructure frontier in the world – connecting merchants and consumers intra-Africa and globally,” said Jamie Reynolds, Partner at Avenir Growth.

Founded in 2016, Flutterwave has positioned itself as a global B2B payments solutions platform for companies in Africa and all around the world. The fintech helps businesses build customisable payments applications through its APIs. Flutterwave’s existing customers include Uber, Facebook, Booking.com and Flywire.